Saturday

College conference realignment has people acting crazy

The (Cincinnati) Enquirer did some digging and found out that the University of Cincinnati — fearing its livelihood as conference realignment ruined the Big East, which UC calls home — tried to get into the ACC and, secondarily, the Big 12.
And school officials used an interesting tactic to get it done: enlisting Ohio State coach Urban Meyer to advocate for them.
The email and other documents, obtained by The Enquirer through an Ohio Public Records Act request, also show that UC tried to enlist Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer, whose sister works at UC. Urban used to coach at Notre Dame, which has joined the ACC for sports other than football.
But Meyer eventually backed away from that request.
“While he is comfortable telling folks he cares deeply for UC and that he knows we are a great school, with great people and great leadership, he thinks his calls would feel contrived and that they would not have an impact,” wrote Gigi Escoe, a vice provost at UC and Meyer's sister, to Babcock Nov. 27.Speaking of college football: A former colleague of mine at Bowling Green, Ryan Autullo, tracked in The (Toledo) Blade efforts by Mid-American Conference commission Jon Steinbrecher to help the league set a new record with seven bowl bids.
"It was one of those times where everything came together," Steinbrecher said after it all was over.

Easy there, tiger

Whoa: This critic from Chicago Now is not a fan of “Road Tested,” the new documentary show on Travel Channel that follows the Cleveland Browns. Writes “Dave TV”:
So, Travel Channel produces the show on the cheap and tries to cover everything but football which makes it a show about people who are paid to be behind the scenes and in the shadows. Exciting? Not even a little bit. There are no high stakes. There is no pressure. There is no drama. Just people calmly going about their days doing their jobs.
I have not watched the most recent episode of the show, which aired last night, but I did catch the premiere, and I guess I don't see the fuss. I've been fortunate enough in my work here to see some of this behind-the-scenes stuff go on and be in the locker room. But for Browns fans who perhaps have not seen what goes on behind the scenes — i.e., with Phil Dawson having 4,000 pairs of shoes — I thought it was a pretty neat thing and definitely gave folks some insight into what goes on with their favorite squad.
If I'm a Browns fan and I tune in to “Road Tested,” why do I care if, as this writer notes, RIVR Media (Jimmy Haslam's wife's company) had to overpay for the footage?
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